


The First of Many Cigarettes

by pacificaxe



Category: Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Genre: Friendship, One Shot, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 16:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1475725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pacificaxe/pseuds/pacificaxe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mr. White gives Orange a cigarette and a pep talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First of Many Cigarettes

His lips part around a ring of smoke, just before breathing the rest out with a sigh. 

"Damn." He laments and he brings the cigarette back up to his lips for a short drag. "Quitting was the dumbest thing I ever did." 

He says, tensely, in an attempt to keep the smoke in his lungs for as long as he can. He holds it for a moment, savoring the sensation. The pull and drag, the familiarity. All of it calms him down. His hands aren't shaking anymore. White laughs at him. 

"Kid, when was the last time you had a cigarette?" 

Freddy muses for a second, he might be able to recall the exact date. He can certainly remember the day, all wheezing and coughing while he was supposed to be chasing some guy, he can barely remember what for, and as soon as he'd gotten back he'd chucked out the carton and quit the hard way. Jesus that must've been...

"About five years ago?"

White smiles. "Goddamn. You must've been a toddler when you started smoking." White said, getting a kick out of his own joke. Freddy laughed a bit too, but shook his head.

"Not far from it." He said, plucking the cigarette out of his mouth and watching the smoke trail in circles as he moved his hand.

"I was about fourteen if I remember correctly. My mom left 'em all over the house, I dunno what she expected." He said with a little chuckle. "I actually had a pretty nice business going for a while. School kids'll pay top dollar for shit like that." He remembered getting busted and sent to the school counselor. Any other kid would have gotten suspended, but Freddy knew how to play adults like a fiddle. A few tears and a mention that your dad is dead, and boom, not only are you NOT getting punished, but you're probably walking out of there with a few pieces of candy and enough sympathy to get you through the rest of the year unscathed.

"You started off early, huh?" White asked, lighting a cigarette of his own. Freddy nodded, still a bit lost in his thoughts.

The counselor hadn't even called his mother about it. He smirked at the memory, and thought it was probably a bit similar to what he was doing now, playing to this guy's sympathy. He felt a bit bad about it, he genuinely enjoyed hanging out with White. Sometimes he forgot how badly this whole thing was going to end.

"You enjoying the cig, Orange?" White asked.

Freddy snapped his head up, realizing he'd been staring at nothing for a good minute or two.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Freddy said, slumping his shoulders back and sliding down in his seat a bit.

"Listen, I know it's easy to get worked up about this stuff." White reassured. "From the outside, this looks like a huge fucking job. It is a huge fucking job, in that we're all walking out of here with a pretty penny."

He took a deep drag off his cigarette and continued, looking Freddy dead in the eyes.

"But listen, Joe is a smart guy, we're talking Einstein. He's got this thing planned to the second. It'll take us less than ten fucking minutes to make more money than most of us has probably seen in our lives, and all you gotta do is stand by the door. It's a piece of cake. Got it?"

Freddy nodded intently, ever grateful to have the heist as an excuse for his nerves. He wasn't handling the whole undercover thing as well as he would have liked to. Sure, they all bought him. It wasn't that. He was cool, and he loved getting away with this shit, every white lie he told built up his confidence. It wasn't that it was... He couldn't place it. His reputation in the group was that of someone who was a bit nervous and loud-mouthed which they all chalked up to inexperience and age. It was the same rep he'd had at the academy. It was how he always got when he had something to prove. Some switch flipped in his head and he couldn't shut it off... Unless he was with White. He was still shaky around White, but his loud mouth wasn't a problem. He didn't have to dig on White, they could just talk. He liked that.

"Yeah. I got it." Freddy smiled up at him. "Thanks."

"Don't get sappy with me, boy." White reprimanded. But he was smiling too.

"Come on, kid, let's ditch this place." He said, standing. He flicked the ash off his cigarette, and motioned for Freddy to follow him. Freddy stomped out his cigarette, stood up and followed white out of the courtyard. Freddy wasn't frankly sure where they were. Joe had told them to go out and case a little, just to make sure they had everything down pat. It was the third time that week, and Joe never let them take the damn car. Joe had a lot of hookups, and Freddy guessed this place was one of them. He couldn't imagine any other reason White would be hanging out someplace that had a gazebo.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Much like everyone else here, I don't own these characters, they just bug my consciousness.


End file.
